Three Things I Never Told Brooke About Nathan
by Wildly Obsessed
Summary: Early S1 Pathan. Their relationship wasn't all bad.


**Three Things I Never Told Brooke About Nathan**

I get that he's an enormous jack ass, okay?

Hell, an annoyingly large chunk of me sided with Brooke when she said that I was like Karen since I let my boyfriend treat me like crap all the time.

But he's not always like that.

Brooke would think that he is, of course. She's my best friend. And what do best friends get to listen to? All I tell her is the crappy stuff that happens between us. The rants. Everyone does it- they vilify who they're mad at so the person they're bitching to will agree with the bitcher and not the bitchee. Seriously.

It's not like he's a dick 24/7. I'm not a total moron.

**i. ****He would paint my nails**

_Nathan kneeled by the foot of my bed, one hand gripping my foot, the other dabbing nail polish on said foot with a delicateness that would surprise his jock friends. He joked about my ugly toes, easily apologizing when I became huffy. My boyfriend seemed to be completely comfortable doing my nails for me…for a guy who emits testosterone by the bucket loads, you wouldn't think he'd be so at ease with such a feminine task._

_His fingers were soft and the activity was routine. We did random crap like this all the time… he'd come over and paint my nails or give me a massage while I largely ignored him in favour of a magazine or book._

_We would spend time together and it would feel natural._

_I always thought that's what being married would feel like; you know, being completely used to someone that their presence feels like it's been moulded to your own._

**ii. ****He needed someone to understand that he wasn't malicious, just bad with words**

_He used to insult me almost continually._ _But the thing was he'd apologize twice as often as he insulted. Yeah, I know that the fact that he had anything to apologize for to begin with should be grounds enough for him being a dick._

_What people don't get is that Nathan's kind of stupid, okay? He doesn't say that crap to me to be a mean jack ass. He says it because it doesn't actually occur to him that his words are rude and offensive. He inserts his foot in his mouth but tries hard to remove it once he's aware it's there. Let's face it- his girlfriend's a moody, edgy, mouthy bitch three quarters of the time. If he didn't mouth back, I'd have hurt his feelings and broken his spirit ages ago. We say things to each other but we don't mean them. It's just one way we interact._

_"God, why are you so damn moody? I only made out with her because YOU broke up with me- for no good reason! We didn't even get as far as removing any clothes-"_

_"How many people have you hooked up with during one of our relationship technicalities?" I snapped back, shutting my eyes._

_"Peyton, come on. You know they're all meaningless to me-"_

_"If they don't mean anything, then stop doing it!"_

_"Do you know how many girls want to be you? Do you? I'm practically beating them off with a stick and I'd have to do that literally if you insist I don't look at anyone else even when we're broken up."_

_"Oh, is this where we get into how lucky I am to be Nathan Scott's girlfriend?"_

_"You wouldn't have most of your friends if it wasn't for your status as Nathan Scott's girlfriend."_

_My mouth dropped and I took a step back, as though burnt._

_"Fuck…Peyton, you know I didn't mean that."_

_"You said it, didn't you?"_

_He reached his hand out but I jerked further back. "Don't touch me."_

_"I'm an idiot. We both know what I said is completely not true… I'm sorry," His eyebrows furrowed pleadingly and he walked closer to me._

_The thing was, of course, that it only bothered me so much because it was a thought that had disturbed me more than once and it was becoming clear that it was true._

_"I'm so sick of listening to you insult me," I clenched my teeth and willed him to leave me alone. With him there was a fifty-fifty chance he would do just that and walk away in an impatient huff._

_"I'm sorry I keep doing it. I don't deserve you, Peyt." He tentatively closed the distance between us and cupped my face. "Please forgive me?"_

_"You're a total manwhore and you just said all my friends only keep me around so they have a chance to screw you themselves someday." I glared._

_"Listen… I wouldn't actually have an affair or anything-"_

_"Meaningless sex is still sex."_

_"I'll stop. They're not as good as you anyways. They never are. And you know I'd never screw any chick who would mess with you like that." He tucked a strand of my hair behind my ears and leaned to murmur lowly in said ear. "I know I can be a jerk sometimes but Peyton… I don't know what I'd do without you. So come on. Let it go?"_

_"You'd find someone else to screw without me, that's what you'd do."_

_"You know I don't just want you for sex. If you weren't such a tempermental, bipolar, over-sensitive crazy person who seems to be constantly PMS-ing, I wouldn't like you nearly as much as I do. And I like you really a lot, okay?"_

_It was the other fifty percent of the time that I stuck around for. He could be damn sweet when his temper wasn't ignited._

_"Whatever." But I was smiling._

_He smiled back._

_Later, he would ask me just why I tolerated all his insults and I'd tell him that he was kind of worth it._

_Later, he would hug me so tightly and whisper that he really needed to hear that._

_Later, he would wrap his arms around me while we lay in bed and hold me while we slept, nothing more._

**iii. ****The best part about the sex was before it actually happened**

"Don't bother showering tonight."

_He sped back to his house, breaking several bylaws to do so but hey we were horny._

_I ripped off his jacket and he shrugged off his shirt._

_"Nipple ring." I breathed, very pleased._

_"Think I'm hardcore enough to pull it off?" He smirked._

_"I think your nipple is pierced and you look really hot half naked but even hotter totally naked." I answered, pulling at his pants._

_"Hey, you once told me nipple rings got you all hot and bothered."_

_I touched the ring, rubbing his nipple while doing so. "You remembered."_

_"Gotta remember what makes my girl horny." He chuckled._

_I turned on the water and he slipped his hands under my cheerleading skirt._

_"You'll be glad you did." I answered as we fell into the shower._

_"Peyton," He would gasp in about ten minutes, "I remember most of the crap you tell me."_

_xXx_

_Even if Nathan was a dick 24/7, he was still most desired at Tree Hill High for a very good reason._

_The man was damn hot and damn good in bed._

_We had blind attraction. It was primal and it transcended most things that was screwy in our relationship. He would touch me and my mind would blank out. I would touch him and his body heat would noticeably rise._

_In the shower, in a bed, in the car, in an empty classroom… We had sex everywhere and all the time._

_And yeah for the most part it was the actual act that was amazing, but that moment right before he'd go in me was pretty damn amazing too._

_He would meet my eyes and hold that gaze for a moment. His eyes would be thick with desire but the emotion prevalent in his eyes was contentment. It was almost loving. And his mouth would rise into a boyish smile that said he wanted to make this good for me._

_I didn't get to see that expression on his face outside of sex. It was too naked._

_But some days I think I liked that look more than my orgasms._

xXx

Brooke would judge my relationship and think I was a victim letting my boyfriend trample me emotionally.

Nathan could be pretty great.

There were reasons I stayed with him. The bad was worth putting up with because damn it, when it was good it was _really fucking good. _That's why I'll forgive him for a really big list of offences he could possibly commit against me.

Not that I'll tell Brooke that. Not that I'll tell Nathan that. But the honest truth? I really like being with him. Because we're Nathan and Peyton. We're the jock and the cheerleader. And yet we're nothing like the jock and the cheerleader. Despite what people seem to think, he's just as stereotypically jock-like as I am a typical cheerleader- except he let only me see his layers.

And Brooke? He's not like his dad. He's just Nate. That's all. And that's enough; warts and all.

* * *

**AN: **I have so many stories I need to update it's scary. But a friend lent me s1 OTH. And though I always did like Pathan, seeing it in front of me reminded me that I did support them. I never fully thought they sucked together, and I didn't think Nathan was that bad. I may be a die hard Leyton shipper, but the first few s1 episodes compelled me to do this. 

And I am trying to hash out some more stuff for He Lied and Choose Your Poison. It's just that, well, I have four days to do what I was supposed to have done in the last four weeks. Yay school. So review and cheer me on and my updates for my other fics might go faster :)

ETA: I still have several Pathan ideas- seriously the first 4 episodes of OTH gave us some golden moments. This fic was meant to be a one-shot but depending on whether or not I'll be able to create a new fic for my other ideas, this might be changed to a chapter fic


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